PC World rattles off a top five list of the "Most Anti-Tech Organizations in America," affixing the RIAA and MPAA atop the list for eliminating innovation in their sector. The magazine isn't too kind to phone companies, putting them at number three for their fight against network neutrality, number five for their stranglehold on the wireless sector, and number four for their fight against even broadband deployment:
quote:
The phone and cable companies have had little real incentive to improve the speeds, prices, and reach of their broadband services. Today most Americans, if they have any choice of broadband providers at all, can choose service only from a cable or a telephone company ISP. Meanwhile, the FCC and the courts have consistently ruled that the cable and telephone companies are under no legal obligation to share their broadband lines with would-be competitors.Some argue that federally collected monies and tax incentives helped pay for those lines in the first place, and that the current owners of those facilities have an obligation to share them. Only real competition, not the short-term interests of shareholders, can compel ISPs in the U.S. to boost broadband speeds and lower costs to world-class levels
Verizon and AT&T actually catch a break in that the piece only highlights one group that's used to dispense disinformation dressed up as economic science (Progress and Freedom Foundation). In addition to lobbying, both companies actually use dozens of such groups (including
fake consumer advocacy organizations) to help push policies that eliminate competition, accountability, innovation and consumer rights.
Verizon makes a post to their policy blog suggesting PC World shouldn't include them in the list because they're deploying FiOS. However, select deployment of fiber (which we all love) doesn't wash clean the company's long track record of crushing competition, suing municipal Wi-Fi projects out of existence, nickel and diming consumers, using astroturf to distort public discourse and generally stomping around the industry school yard like a deep-pocketed bully.
There's just no way they're going to make us forget about decades of anti-consumer activity just by dangling fiber in front of....
symmetrical 20Mbps you say? What were we talking about?